Using roller coaster creators is a fun & simple way for students to introduce students to simple machines or beginner physics. Interactive activities & games allow trail & error, & gives students a chance build their own thrill ride. The three games below each have a different focus on either potential energy & kinetic energy or G-forces & velocity. They all have their pros & cons, & combined give students a chance to practice their science & math skills in a real-world learning activity.
Available on BrainPOP’s GAMEUP, Coaster Creator from Jason Learning is an interactive lesson over potential & kinetic energy. Students get an audio tutorial about the physics behind roller coasters before they get to build. They get to design their own coaster cars & add hills & loops to their track. The object of the game is to have enough kinetic energy to get the coaster from the beginning to the end without stalling the coaster or crashing it. The loops, hills, & screams of the passengers will affect the overall score of their students’ coasters. Student can at the end view their coaster’s data & redesign their coaster to get more points.
Raytheon & Walt Disney Imagineering developed an attraction at Disney’s Epcot Center, Sum of all Thrills. Using math & science, kids can engineer their own thrill ride. Raytheon added a simplified online version to their MathMovesU website designed for middle school students. On their online version students focus on using math & science to figure their coaster’s kinetic & potential energy. They can select to build a track for either a bobsled, coaster, or jet. As their little craft moves along the track, they are asked four times to choose a piece of track to make their coaster mild or wild. Each time they have to use math & science to adjust the track shape & vehicle speed. They have to get the speed right & overcome gravity to get over the hills & not crash. After completing their track, they can name it & then virtually ride it. This site is simple enough for young students, as they can just use trial & error instead of figuring out the math by just trying out different heights & speed.
Probably one of the oldest sites between the 3, & the one with the least amount of cool effects & graphics. So why is it on the list? Every time students play it, they get determine to pass the levels. This game is one that can be very challenging. Not to mention, students seem to like to watch their little passenger get sick or pass out. When the track looks cool on the screen with steep hills to the students, may instead make the coaster get stuck or knock out its riders, which in turn does not allow the student to pass the level. There is a lot of science behind this game. Make the track too gentle & the students will not get enough points to pass the level. To change the levels of the hills, all students have to do is move the gray boxes up & down, & the track with change elevation. The higher the levels students pass, the higher their track can go, the more elevation changes they can make, & more points are needed to pass. This game focuses on how much G-forces & velocity a rider can take, but still making the coaster fun to pass the level.
Physics
Table of Contents
3 Roller Coaster Creators
Using roller coaster creators is a fun & simple way for students to introduce students to simple machines or beginner physics. Interactive activities & games allow trail & error, & gives students a chance build their own thrill ride. The three games below each have a different focus on either potential energy & kinetic energy or G-forces & velocity. They all have their pros & cons, & combined give students a chance to practice their science & math skills in a real-world learning activity.
Coaster Creator
Sum of all Thrills
Roller-Coaster Designer
Simple Machines
A game from Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry, in this simple game students help Twitch collect spare robot parts using simple machines.
Last Updated - Sep 2013